I shared this reflection at our first local training in Alhambra-Monterey Park today. Can't wait to let people post their reflections in later posts. But this reflection talks about the "both and" of prayer and action in Kingdom activity.
Prayer challenges us to be fully aware of the world in which we live and to present it with all its needs and pains to God. It is this compassionate prayer that calls for compassionate action. The disciple is called to follow the Lord not only into the desert and onto the mountains to pray but also into the valley of tears, where help is needed, and onto the cross, where humanity is in agony.
Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us into a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying , and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ.
--From Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life
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